mSATA os install Alienware 14

Question

Hey everyone,

I've been reading several guides on installing Windows 7 onto the msata drive of the 14 and using the HDD as extra storage. I will receive my laptop tomorrow so i plan on a fresh install for simplicity and i also have a 240GB msata lying in wait for installation.

My only real issue is what prior configuration in the bios will i have to do to the msata before running the install disk? As in, my plan is to boot up the laptop when i get it, setup windows 7 as preinstalled on the HDD with the 80gb msata cache. Check for any problems then when i'm happy, shut down and swap msata's and run install CD.

is it that simple? Given the msata was acting as a cache before this new attempt, what do i have to change in the bios to prepare it for using the msata as the boot drive? I heard i had to change its write speed or something but a clear point in the right direction would be most beneficial!

After all this, plain and simple, in the windows 7 setup, wipe and format both drives before install on msata leaving hdd as storage.

Cheers

Ruley

Tesla1856 · Accepted Answer

1. I can change mSATA operation from RAID to AHCI but

2. i cant see a specific option to disable cacheing (does one exist?)

3. remount HDD and format clean for use as storage!

1. Right

2. That second part is done within Win7 and Intel-RST. First part is BIOS-RAID.

In fact I wouldn't install Intel-RST during your clean install. Use the Microsoft HDD drivers instead.

3. But not until you are 100% sure everything is working. At first, just put some data-files in My Documents, etc. on C:. If you are not going to Image factory version of C: or create Recovery Media ... the untouched HDD is your fail-safe.

Tesla1856 · Answer

Good plan. It should work nice. However, I don't think machines are shipping with Windows7-64 DVDs any more. You might get lucky or you might have to request it.

Setup existing drives and check operation.

Try to create any Dell Recovery USB flashes (why not). Maybe even Image the HDD if you care to ever revert back.

Remove both the existing mSata drive and spinning-HDD.

Install 240gb mSata.

Check for detection in BIOS. Set BIOS and RAID-BIOS (if available) to plain AHCI and no caching. Pick either UEFI or Legacy.

Install Windows 7 clean. Then chipset and other drivers (see my favorites).

When happy, install spinning HDD. Check BIOS detect. Erase all partitions, create partition, format as D:

Ruley · Answer

Cheers for the reply!

In case of emergency i have an extra copy of windows 7 pro i'm more tempted to use, but thanks for heads up on possible lack of os!

So questions that arise from this is, whats RAID-BIOS? Will i easily be able to find and select options AHCI and no caching and which boot order system is preferred, UEFI or Legacy?

I assume chipset and drivers will be on the alienware resource CD?

Cheers

Ruley

Alienware-L_Por · Answer

Yes, they'll be there. You can easily change that on the BIOS to AHCI under SATA Operation. Any of them should be fine, however I find Legacy more familiar.

Tesla1856 · Answer

I wouldn't burn a retail $150 license, when the machine comes with one (that you paid for).

Look around for Intel raid controller options. It's possibly all inside the UEFI interface now.

I've seen some new (Win 8.x capable) UEFI computers ship in Legacy mode. Try the different ways yourself or Google it:

http://en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19498444.aspx

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2417361,00.asp

All drivers are at http://ftp.dell.com or http://support.dell.com

Ruley · Answer

Hey everyone, thanks for all the replies!

So, laptop came, it has the OS CD and resource CD (lucky me!) i've booted it and all seems well with ram and CPU etc...

I had a poke around in the bios without saving just to see what was there.

I can change mSATA operation from RAID to AHCI but i cant see a specific option to disable cacheing (does one exist?)

Laptop is already set up in legacy boot mode so i will use that order.

So the plan is to install 250 msata

+

remove HDD,

Boot and change msata operation from raid to AHCI

boot order CD drive first

install windows 7 from os cd to 250 msata with no partitioning

boot and install drivers

remount HDD and format clean for use as storage!

Thoughts?

cheers for everyones help

George

Toby J · Answer

Did your plan work? I am planning to do the same thing. I am going to use a 256 msata and use the HDD for storage. Did you run into any problems? Did you continue to run AHCI mode after installing the HDD or did you switch back to RAID since you have two drives now? Thanks!

Toby J · Answer

Did you do any of the following after installing your SSD? 1. Enable Trim 2. Disable Hibernate 3. Disable or Move Page File to secondary HDD 4. Move Windows Temporary Files to secondary HDD 5. Disable System Restore 6. Enable Write Caching 7. Disable Indexing 8. Disable Superfect, Windows Search, and Prefetch Thanks!

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mSATA os install Alienware 14

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